Wednesday, March 22, 2017

PHILIPPINES, MY POOR PHILIPPINES!

This is certainly not merely about the poor, the pitiful if
not downright miserable socio-economic standard of living of a big number of
Filipinos. Neither is this but the
phenomenon of many men/fathers and women/mothers thus leaving the Country to
find and have their means of living in foreign Nations and wherefore about the
thousands of poor and miserable people who live under the bridges, have their
houses by the canals, sell whatever things in the streets, sleep on the
sidewalks – not to mention those who occupy houses built for others.

This is about ENERGY – with its up and down prices, its
ill-effects on health and the environ.
Their producers lord over the consumers who then resort to illegal and
hazardous connections, who use candles or gas to light up their houses.

This is about TRAFFIC – that harasses passengers, that takes
a lot of precious time to go from one place to another. So many traffic chiefs have been named one
after the other. But traffic jams even
become worse from one year to another.

This is about DRUGS – which is anything but life-giving,
life-enhancing. So it is that prohibited
and thus illegal drugs have become synonymous with death, be someone a user, a
seller, a distributor, a manufacturer.

This is about CRIMINALITY – that means among other things,
downright selling of women and/or children, grossly cheating or stealing, seriously crippling or downright
killing these and those individuals for whatever reason or purpose.

This is about the DEATH SENTENCE – that goes hand-in-hand with an unjust Justice System where the
powerful and the wealthy are exempted therefrom, when only the helpless and miserable are strictly
covered.

This is about MINDANAO – that is synonymous with discontent
that leads to unending deadly warring
tribes lording it up in different
sections of the region, and where foreigners are now and then kidnapped for
ransom under penalty of death.

This is about the NPA and NDF – whose members have become
experts in causing apprehension and fear, collecting taxes here and there,
destroying assets, ending lives such that it has come to treasure deadly
dissent instead of unity and peace.

This is about CHINA – that is now slowly but surely
conquering the Philippines in the latter’s territorial rights not with guns and
bullets but with economic baits and social commitments and promissory
benefits. USA already did this before.

This is about the USA and the EUROPEAN UNION – that look
down at the Philippines as if it were under their socio-political jurisdiction,
telling if not threatening the latter
with economic sanctions and socio-political pressure.

Oscar Cruz

About The Blogger

Most Reverend Oscar V. Cruz, D.D. is the Archbishop-Emeritus of Lingayen-Dagupan. He is currently the Judicial Vicar of the National Tribunal of Appeals. He is a prolific writer, having published several dozen books mostly on judicial and moral matters. His most recent book is about the Social Doctrines of the Church. He also has a blog where he posts regularly. He is an avid coin collector and dabbles in woodworking art.